Finally, a real update!!

OK. I know that some of you enjoy my enigmatic prose, but that many are also wondering where we are heading next and when. I did not talked about it until now for the simple reason that we didn’t know yet. Up until last week we were still considering staying on a biodynamic farm in Costa Rica... In March, JF almost got a job in the Netherlands. You get the picture. Having too many choices is a beautiful problem.

My personal first choice has always been to be back on the road. However, we had to find a way to make this ways of traveling sustainable. I think we found the perfect solution. An old Wanderlodge Bluebird RV bus that we probably will have converted to veggie oil. And we will pull our Westfalia!! 

 :: My beloved Westfalia will be the chalet/office/music room/guest room/I-need-some-alone-space spot ::

Why an old bus? Because it has character, it has a soul (which new rv’s don’t have). It is solid and not made of cardboard (like the trailer we had for our last roadtrip) and it contains much less chemicals than the newer rv’s (to which I react). Plus, it has lost already most of its value (versus buying a newer rv and having to sell it for half the price – or less – two years later).

:: One of the Bluebird Wanderlodge rv we are considering buying ::

The Westfalia will be the office/music room/guest room/I-need-some-alone-space spot. And it will be perfect to do side trips to campgrounds that are not accessible with a big vehicle or without a 4X4.

We are pretty excited to hit the road again, especially since we have no return date. We are simply taking our life on the road. We are heading to the Yukon (with side trips to Alaska) for the summer and then, we will slowly work our way south on the East Coast (we haven’t seen Oregon and California yet) and we are aiming to be in southern Utah/Moab at the end of October to enjoy some canyon hikes and mountain biking, then, we will probably go down in AZ, spend Christmas with our friends and maybe cross into Mexico or slowly work our way back up to BC for Spring. But our plans will obviously change and that’s perfect.

There will still be some poetic little daily reflections in this space but also a lot of writing about our adventures. If you would like to be kept up to date, like Catherine et les fées on Facebook and check Get notifications (in the Like drop down menu). 

Our adventure starts on June 16th! Welcome aboard!

Counting

38 more days, 6 music lessons, 5 circus practices, 1 dress rehersal and 4 shows. Not that we are counting or anything.

Reinventing ourselves

The weather is making all of us grumpy. We sewed with bright red fabric. 
And sang on the way back. It made me laugh that the (broken) Westfalia odometer said I was going at 140 km/h when everybody was zooming by.
I made falafel and green orzo. They set the table with the flowered spring tablecloth.

Then, the sun finally showed it's face after dinner. They went outside and biked, and everything fell into place. I love how we can all reinvent ourselves a little bit at the end of the day.

Dealing with adversity

"If you watch how nature deals with adversity, continually renewing itself, you cannot help but learn." - Bernie S. Siegel

A rainy weekend in Massachusetts

JF had a race near Boston, so we decided to make it our first camping weekend of the season. Of course it rained. It *always* rain when we camp in our Westfalia. While JF ran, we tried to stay warm in the van, snuggled under our comforters, reading, knitting, watching tons of different bird species visiting the tree right beside our Westy - from the top bunk, through the little side window in the new roof tent. We made warm coffee for JF (he ended up stopping after 30 km - it was a  50 km race - because he was sick and hadn't slept enough in the previous weeks). 

They were all sick and went through 2 kleenex boxes in 48 hours. The wet Westfalia turned into a giant germ incubator. I tried to keep my water bottle to myself, but it was pointless... At some point, Mara was practicing her violin, JF was holding her sheet music, Mathilde and Aïsha were playing Connect4 and I was sitting on the ground reading. In less than 50 square feet. But we are used to do our living and our loving pretty close. So close in fact, that we can see it all, beauty and faults, joy and sorrow, glory and pain. So close we can't focus on them too long...

 :: After 10 km, cold and wet, but still smiling ::

 :: Knitting, playing, drawing, eating while papa is running in the rain::

I made sushis for hungry girls while he was driving. Thinking about the many ham and cheese sandwiches I made on that very same table for my dad and I, when I was their age.

They picked shells while I filled my lungs with salty air. Then, we washed our dishes in dirty sea water that we heated on the stovetop.

Also: perfectly burnt camping toasts. Magnolias in full bloom. Cartwheels in the bright green grass. Yellow forsythia everywhere.

 I came back with a sore throat, a pretty dirty Westfalia and a very full heart.

Wild

So much in my life right now is chaotic and wild. And I find it all strangely exhilarating.

 

The sweet spot

We woke up to the phone ringing and a short deadline. To hungry and grumpy children. To a messy kitchen. 
Somewhere, mid-afternoon we found the sweet spot. Two playing. One practicing the piano. The house (mostly) tidy. It was so good I was afraid to breathe.